The Boy in the Kitchen
by FleurRebelle
Summary: Max Brennan knew it was coming. The day that some boy would inevitably show up and be the other side of his daughter's odd coin. What he didn't know, was that that day was closer than he ever expected. [ HIGH SCHOOL AU ]


Max looked in on his 16 - year old daughter, Temperance Joy as she sat at her desk intently pouring over the anatomy books he had brought home for her from his job at the University. The university was updating their selection and had no use for the previous year's editions. Knowing how much his daughter was interested in anthropology and biological sciences, he grabbed the books before they could go in the trash.

When he presented them to her, he had been on the receiving end of a great, big hug. The kind of hug he hadn't gotten since his Tempe was a little thing, lugging around her toy skull model in the basket on the front of her bicycle. God, she was beautiful wasn't she? Long, wavy chestnut

hair and clear blue eyes just like her mother. Just the other day, he and his wife had talked about the kids and how things were changing for their family. Russ was on his way to state college next year and Temperance was thriving academically. They had high hopes that she would get into Harvard, Brown, or any other Ivy League school.

He was thankful everyday that Temperance seemed more interested in books and experiments than boys. Russ on the other hand, was another story. He went through girlfriends like bottles of shampoo and it was a miracle that he was even on track for graduation. The only boy Temperance seemed to spend any time with was her best friend Zachary, whom Max was 97% sure was madly in love with some kid named Jack.

Max wasn't naive. He'd seen the looks the other boys would give her when they went out and even a few of the adult men much to his chagrin. Tempe was oblivious to it all, as always. And for those few who were bold and persistent; they easily ran away on their own once they figured out that Temperance was probably smarter than their entire family combined. He was hoping his good luck streak of no boyfriends would continue until Temperance was at least 27. Yes, 27. That's the perfect age to go on a first date!

He smirked smugly to himself and made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he met Russ stepping noisily into the kitchen with a boy that he'd never seen before following behind. It was apparent that they went to school together as they both were carrying Huntsville High varsity baseball equipment. Russ had been on the team since he was a Freshman. Since he was familiar with all of Russ's teammates, he was curious who the other boy was.

Russ stopped his laughter when he spotted his dad. "Hey dad. This is my friend Seeley. We just came in to grab some snacks before practice.", he said while opening the refrigerator door and proceeding to take out virtually every piece of food they had and put it on the table.

Seeley grimaced in obvious displeasure at the use of his first name before holding out his hand. "Call me Booth, sir. Everyone does."

Max frowned. For some reason, he was mistrustful of this kid. He was a little too...chiseled and his smile held a little too much mischief.

" _Booth_. Is that a nickname, or..."

"It's my surname.", the boy answered. "Seeley Joseph Booth."

"I see... and you're on the baseball team?"

"Yes, sir. I just made Varsity.", he said proudly. " I'm a Junior."

"Ah, you're in Tempe's class.", Max nodded in understanding.

Booth looked confused. "Tempe?"

Russ peeked out from the behind the pantry door where he had started pulling out cans of soda. "My sister.", he explained.

"Oh, you mean Bones!", Booth drawled. "Would you happen to know where she is? I uh...I wanted to talk to her about something."

"I'm right here and I asked you not to call me that!", a disgruntled voice sounded in the background before Max could answer. They all turned to see Temperance standing in the doorway; barefoot, arms folded and eyes narrowed in on Booth. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts. It was completely appropriate house attire, but Max had the overwhelming urge to throw a blanket over her and lock her in the closet.

Max watched as Booth walked over to Tempe and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Aw Bones, don't be like that. I was just kidding. It's a term of endearment.", he answered teasingly.

Max _almost_ felt sorry for the kid and what was surely going to happen next. Tempe threw a mean right hook (he taught her well) and she didn't let anyone outside of family touch her without explicit permission.

Much to his surprise, Temperance didn't push him away or punch him. Instead she rolled her eyes and gently shrugged him off. Turning around to face Booth, she said, "It doesn't sound very _endearing_ to me. In fact, it sounds quite demeaning."

Booth looked down at her in amusement. "That's because you're looking at it all wrong. We'll talk about it on our date on Saturday.", he said in a low voice tucking a stray curl of hair behind her ear.

' **Date?! What date?'** Max's mind stumbled to a complete stop. He couldn't do anything but stare at the scene unfolding in front of him in horror.

"I never said I was going on a date with you Booth.", she sighed exasperatedly.

"Yeah, but you didn't say you _weren't_ going to go either.", he argued with a raised eyebrow. Booth had a point, but Bones didn't want to admit it. Her face showed no signs of budging. Booth put on his best pout face. "Come on Bones, please? I already got us tickets."

That peaked her interest. "Tickets to what...?"

"To that new museum exhibit, Body Worlds. I know you like that sort of thing and it looked kind of cool.", he shrugged.

Temperance's eyes widened in surprise. "But... that exhibit has been sold out for months. I tried to get tickets everywhere. How did you get them?"

"My Pops knows a guy that works there in the maintenance department. He swung them for me."

Booth knew he'd won when he saw the tiniest of smiles crack onto Temperance's face.

"Fine, I'll go out with you.", she conceded. "But it's _not_ a date. It's simply a social meeting between two friends enjoying an exhibit and exploring the fascinating intricacies of the human body."

Booth smiled so wide, Max thought his face might melt off. "Great! I'll pick you up at five. Pops said he'll drive us after his shift. My truck probably won't make it all the way downtown."

Booth's truck had been a birthday gift from his grandfather, but it was still in the early fixer upper stages. It barely got him and his little brother Jared, back and forth to school every day.

Temperance nodded. "Those terms are satisfactory. Saturday at five o clock.", she responded without another word; turning around on her heel and retreating back upstairs.

Booth's eyes followed her with a dopey , besotted expression and Russ snorted into his drink. "Dude, you're hopeless.", he commented.

"Shut up Russ.", Booth mumbled, sitting down at the table and helping his son eat them out of house and home.

Max knew in that moment that this was _the boy_. He could feel it. The one he dreaded coming into their lives. The one that had the power to turn his world upside down and steal his daughter from him.

Because the way he looked at Temperance...it was like he _knew_ how much she was worth and was willing to put in the effort. Even though they were both just kids. He wasn't intimidated by her at all. They were like two sides of an odd coin.

Max excused himself from the boys. He slipped into the garage and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and his gun from their respective hiding places. After taking a long swig, he sat down and started planning. It was Wednesday so that meant he had three days to effectively scare the crap out of the undoubtedly horny teenager in his kitchen into keeping his hands and other body parts away from his baby girl. His wife had been right, Tempe was changing right before their eyes. She was practically all grown up.

He loaded the gun and chuckled to himself. This would be fun.


End file.
